Yarn-stripping device



Oct. 14, 1969 s. ARDRON YARN-STRIPPING DEVICE Filed April 9. 1968 FIG 2 Inventor GEOFFREY ARDRON By DAVIS, HOXIE, FAITHFULL & HAPGOOD Attorneys nited States Patent Office 3,471 ,909 Patented Oct. 14, 1969 3,471,909 YARN-STRIPPIN G DEVICE Geoffrey Ardron, Holbrook, Derby, England, assignor to Courtaulds Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Apr. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 719,915 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 13, 1967, 17,026/ 67 Int. Cl. B65h 49/20 US. Cl. 28-19 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for stripping remnant yarn from a yarn package former, for example a pirn, comprising means for rotating the former in the yarn-unwinding sense, rotatable brushing means for rotatably brushing against the remnant yarn so as to pick up the yarn tail, and a yarn-winder, the components being arranged so that the brushing means presents the yarn to the yam-winder for winding and the yarn-winder unwinds the yarn sideways otf the former.

This invention is concerned with a device for stripping remnant yarn from a yarn package former. It frequently occurs in operations involving yarn packages that when the bulk of the yarn has been unwound from the package former, an amount of remnant yarn is left on the former. In order that the former may be used again, it is necessary to remove this remnant yarn. With some types of former, for example bobbins and tubes, it is still common practice to remove the remnant yarn by hand using a knife. With other types of former, and especially in the case of pirns, the methods for removing the yarn have been more sophisticated. One known apparatus for stripping a pirn comprises a device which picks up the yarn tail from the bunch yarn remaining on the pirn and drags the yarn over-end off the pirn. Up until now, devices of this type have had several disadvantages including the tendency of the yarn to break as it is dragged overend off the pirn either because of snagging or snatching tensions. Also the arrangement for picking up the tail from the bunch yarn has not been able to deal with all pirns and in particular those in which the yarn has broken simultaneously with the ejection of the pirn from the shuttle.

We have now developed an improved device for stripping remnant yarn from a yarn package former.

According to this invention a device for stripping remnant yarn from a yarn package former comprises the following components in combination: means for rotat-v ing the former in the yarn-unwinding sense, rotatable brushing means for rotatably brushing against the remnant yarn so as to pick up the yarn tail, and a yarnwinder, the components being arranged so that the brushing means presents the yarn to the yarn-Winder for winding and the yarn-winder unwinds the yarn sideways off the former.

The means for rotating the former is conveniently a spindle on which the former is held during rotation of the spindle.

The rotatable brushing means preferably incorporates a flexible frictional surface for brushing against the remnant yarn.

One example of a suitable brushing means comprises a rotatable spindle from which extend flexible fingers which are substantially radial with respect to the spindle at least when the spindle is rotated. The spindle of the brushing means may be mounted parallel to and spaced apart from the spindle which supports the yarn package former so that during rotation of both the spindles the flexible fingers successively brush against the remnant yarn on the yarn package former until the yarn tail is picked up. The finger which picks up the yarn tail then presents it to the yarn-winder for unwinding the yarn sideways off the pirn.

The yarn-winder is preferably arranged with its axis of rotation substantially at right angles to those of the brushing means and the means for rotating the former.

The yard-winder preferably incorporates angular vanes which extend generally radially for the purpose of catching the yarn presented by the brushing means.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, by the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of a device according to the invention as adapted for stripping bunch yarn from a pirn, and

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic plan of the device shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring to the drawing, a spindle 1 and integral base plate 2 locate and rotate a spent pirn 3 carrying bunch yarn 4. A second spindle 5 arranged parallel to and spaced apart from the spindle 1, carries four fingers 6 of a flexible material having a frictional surface, for example a fabric having protruding hooked fibres. The fingers 6 brush against the bunch yarn 4 in turn as the spindle 5 is rotated, until, as shown in FIGURE 2, a finger 6 picks up the tail 7 of the bunch yarn 4 and draws it across the path of one of four vanes 8 mounted on a yarn-winder 9. The vane 8 engages the tail 7 and draws it around the yarn-winder which then winds on the remainder of the yarn drawing it sideways off the pirn.

The drives for the spindles 1 and 5 and the yarn-winder 9 are not shown in the drawing, but it is preferred that they should be driven through a gear train so that their rotations are synchronised and also to ensure that the rate at which the yarn is taken up on the yarn-winder is at most equal to the rate at which yarn is released by the rotation of the pirn, so that the yarn is not broken as it is unwound off the pirn.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for stripping remnant yarn from a yarn package former comprising the following components in combination:

means for rotating the former in the yarn-unwinding sense,

rotatable brushing means for rotatably brushing against the remnant yarn so as to pick up the yarn tail, and a yarn-winder,

the components being arranged so that the brushing means presents the yarn to the yarn-winder for winding and the yarn-winder unwinds the yarn sideways off the former.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the means for rotating the former comprises a spindle on which the former is held during rotation of the spindle.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the rotatable brushing means incorporates a flexible frictional s ilrface for brushing against the remnant yarn.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 in which the rotatable brushing means incorporates fiexible fingers which extend substantially radially with respect to the axis of rotation of the brushing means at least when the brushing means is rotated during operation of the device, and which successively brush against the remnant yarn during operation of the device.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the yarnwinder incorporates angular vanes extending generally radially for catching the yarn presented by the brushing means.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the means for rotating the former and the brushing means are arranged with their rotational axes substantially parallel and the Winder is arranged with its rotational axis substantially at right angles to the rotational axes of the means for rotating the former and the brushing means.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner 

